


Any Part of You

by mountain_ash



Series: Fun with Physiology [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Laura Hale, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Awkward Derek, Fluff, Forbidden Love, Mutual Pining, POV Derek Hale, Persistent Stiles Stilinski, Rebuilt Hale House, Student Stiles, Teacher Derek, Warning: Kate Argent, Wolves, only temporarily
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 11:53:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4959631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mountain_ash/pseuds/mountain_ash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Just FYI, parts are going to seem missing/confusing if you don't read Stiles's POV (My Favorite Body Part).</p>
    </blockquote>





	Any Part of You

**Author's Note:**

> Just FYI, parts are going to seem missing/confusing if you don't read Stiles's POV (My Favorite Body Part).

Derek stared at his computer in abject terror. The semester started in a week, and apparently his doctorate advisor had decided to spontaneously add a few last minute students, and therefore another discussion section, to her physiology course and she needed an extra TA to lead it. Despite the fact she had known him for three years now, she was clearly forgetting that he had atrocious people skills and did research with animals for a reason. Turning down the “offer” would be a death sentence to his thesis, however, even when it was only in its infant stages, so he sent an affirmative reply and started going through the lesson plans.

Discussion started the second Monday of the school year, so Derek had time to gather his thoughts on the subject, practice what he was going to say in front of his mirror, and familiarize himself thoroughly with his gloriously small roster. He had intentionally requested the earliest time possible so the discussion wouldn’t interfere with his travel schedule to the wolf preserve and the early hour had the delightful side-effect of deterring students from registering for it.

The few minutes before class started when everyone was sitting around awkwardly had always made Derek unbearably uncomfortable, so he showed up promptly at 7:30 AM and shut the door to deter stragglers. The first thing he saw when he turned around were bowed, pink lips hanging open and wide whiskey-brown eyes staring at him. Derek quickly averted his eyes to glance at the other far less interesting students and cleared his throat before speaking.

"Um, so you’re all here for Physiology discussion section 6 right?" He got a few affirmatives, but the only one he cared about was the gratuitously loud, ‘Mhmmm’ from the whiskey eyed boy whose name he couldn’t pronounce. “Okay, uh, well I’m Derek Hale, your TA. There were some stragglers that got added to this class, so I, um, got added last minute to the course staff for this discussion section. My phone number will be on the first handout. I don’t check my email in the morning, so, uh, if you’re going to be late or absent text me why before discussion starts. I’m a first year grad student in Professor Cullen’s evolutionary phys lab and my work is in comparative animal locomotion.”

He smiled inwardly, triumphant at having gotten through his short introduction, but a sharp female voice cut through the brief feeling of victory. “Yet you’re teaching human phys?” He looked up briefly into piercing green eyes before quickly looking back down at the tabletop.

“Humans are animals too.” He almost cringed at how pathetic that sounded, but managed to stifle the impulse and moved on as quickly as he could manage. “Anyway, that’s enough about me. Going around the table say your name, year, major, and favorite body part. Nothing vulgar unless you can give a scientifically valid reason." Why did he add that last part?? He sounded like he was preparing to drain every ounce of fun out of this class before it even started. Nodding at the redhead he practically growled in irritation at himself, "You can start."

She shot him a smile full of displeasure before introducing herself. "Lydia Martin. Senior. Biomechanical engineering. Hair." Of course she would like hair. Her's was literally flawless.

Derek intentionally didn't choose the boy with the pretty mouth next because he was sure he wouldn't be able to concentrate on anyone else once he'd given his intro. As it was, Derek barely focused on them as he imagined what body part the guy would choose.

Eventually it came to his turn and Derek took in the rich yet still slightly boyish voice as he introduced himself.

"Uh, Stiles. Don't bother trying to pronounce the name on the roster. I'm a senior studying criminal anthropology." Derek kept his gaze firmly planted on the table as he waited for the answer to the last question. "And my favorite body part is foreskin." He almost choked for a second, before attempting to hide the sound by clearing his throat aggressively and directing what he hoped was a disgruntled scowl at Stiles. That was a mistake though, because he looked absolutely delighted with himself and the impish grin only amplified Derek’s attraction and he found himself stuttering out a response.

“Y-you better have a good reason for that one." He sighed softly. Now Stiles was definitely going to know he’d rattled him. As if in confirmation, his grin widened devilishly before explaining.

“Well, when I was in high school I wrote an essay on the history of the male circumcision, so I learned all sorts of cool stuff about foreskin. Even though scientists aren’t a hundred percent sure exactly what foreskin does for us, based on evolutionary studies they’re pretty sure it serves some purpose in facilitating emotional bonding between mates during sexual intercourse. Apparently vaginal secretions contain vasopressin which is something foreskin is pretty good at absorbing and that helps create a chemical bond between mates. Also, it’s self-lubricating so if you add that to its mechanics, foreskin is basically designed to make sex better for both partners, and who doesn’t love that?” Stiles quirked his eyebrow suggestively at Derek and he realized he’d been staring at him during the entire explanation. He blinked rapidly to try unsuccessfully to clear his head of the wildly inappropriate images filling his head and cleared his overdry throat.

“Alright. Fascinating.” He turned abruptly to grab the handouts from his bag on the floor, rifling through the contents longer than necessary to avoid looking at Stiles again. He got the class started on their discussion assignments and did his best to focus on the other students. It became clear very early that Stiles did not need any help with this material, which only intensified Derek’s attraction because now he wasn’t only brash and attractive, but intelligent too.

Derek tried the entirety of the following week to will his attraction into submission before it became more serious. He hadn't dated anyone since Paige had broken up with him before going abroad their junior year, and he was starting to feel the effects. Coming onto a student was not an option though, no matter how much Stiles seemed to be encouraging it. Not with the rules and not after Professor Argent.

The next couple weeks of discussion were harder to deal with than the first day. Stiles and Scott appeared to have become best friends in the first week and that apparently made Stiles loud. He made terrible physiology jokes that Scott played along with and made Derek want to kiss him. He bickered endlessly with Lydia about the appropriate mechanistic explanations for physiological reactions to certain drugs. But mostly, he insisted upon quirking his warm-whiskey eyes up with an encouraging grin whenever he caught Derek tripping over his words.

“He’s driving me nuts, Laura!” Derek bemoaned his fate over Skype the evening after the third discussion. "I don't know if he's doing it on purpose, but he makes getting through class so hard!" Laura gave an inappropriate snort at the unintended innuendo. Derek rolled his eyes aggressively at that. "You know what I mean."

"I don't know little bro. Do you actually like him? Or is he just a cute little kid?"

"I like him, Laura." Derek floundered for a while, unsure of how to express it. "And he's definitely not a kid. I'm pretty sure he's only a year younger than me."

"And you're sure he's flirting with you?"

"Yes." Sigh. "Well, no. But I don't think he acts the same way toward anyone else. But even if he is flirting with me, I can't do anything."

"Because of the rules? Or because of Kate?"

Derek sighed heavily again. "Both I guess."

"Wait it out then little bro. Semesters don't last forever."

Friday morning came with Derek situated in his closed office, scouring over his protocols for a trial run of his tagging procedure next week when suddenly a knock came at the door. His head shot up in surprise because no one ever came to office hours and it took him a moment to realize he should invite whoever it was in.

"Come in."

He turned his chair around when he heard the door open only to find Stiles standing there looking adorably rumpled and whatever kind of friendliness his face had managed to find morphed into anxiety. He could barely keep it together around Stiles in class, and he could already feel himself switching into his go-to defenses.

"What're you doing here?" He wanted to yell at himself for sounding so gruff but he couldn't help it.

"Uh, coming to your office hours?" Stiles sounded so hopeful, as though he needed to be there, which didn’t make any sense because he definitely didn’t. In fact, he could almost definitely lead the discussion better than Derek was managing.

"But you don't need help. You get perfect scores and know all the answers in class."

The pink flush that spread across Stiles's cheeks was too attractive for words and Derek looked away as Stiles moved quickly to sit in the seat opposite his desk. Why was he blushing? There was no way he didn't know how smart he was.

“Um, no I don’t. But I do like physiology, so I wanted to talk about your research.” Derek took a moment to try and let that sink in, but failed miserably. Stiles was clearly not a morning person if his appearance and barely-there stubble was anything to go by, so he could not simply be there to learn about his research. That just didn’t make sense.

“You know I’m not going to give you extra credit or anything right?” God, he was being so rude. What was he thinking? Stiles hadn’t done anything wrong other than be ridiculously smart and exactly Derek’s type. Granted, Derek didn’t have a type because he’d never liked a guy before, but if he did, it would be Stiles.

"Dude no! I'm not some grade grubber. I'm just an intellectually curious guy with an appreciation for the human body." And now he had a whole new set of images swirling through his head that were going to make getting through the rest of the day very difficult. He needed to reestablish some control in this conversation, because he was getting dangerously close to saying some things that TA’s weren’t allowed to say.

"First off, don't call me dude. I'm technically your teacher. Second, why don't you go to Professor Cullen's hours considering it's actually her lab?"

The pathetic look that fell upon Stiles’s face made his heart stutter. “Have I done something wrong?” And now he officially felt like shit. He wanted Stiles to stop flirting with him, not think Derek hated him. His eyes fell to the clenched hands in his lap as he floundered for a reply.

“Oh, no. I just don’t get why you want to be here.” That was as close as he could get to the truth, anyway.

He could feel Stiles staring him but he couldn’t bring himself to meet his gaze. Suddenly Stiles leaned forward until his elbows were pressed to the desk and Derek forced himself to look at up and find Stiles giving him an uncomfortably knowing smile. “You do realize the reputation Professor Cullen has for choosing grad students right?” Derek was fully aware, and the fact that Stiles also knew made a little burst of pride bloom in his gut, but he still didn’t know where this was going. “So you do realize that I’m fully aware that your research is probably mind blowing right?”

Derek just blinked. Could Stiles actually be here just to hear about his research? Was he maybe actually flirting with Derek and this was his attempt to get to know him? Derek was so confused. Why would anyone care that much about something he did? “You woke up for 7:00 AM office hours just to get me to talk about my research?” Stiles gave him one aggressive nod. “I don’t like talking.” As if Stiles didn’t already know that.

“So I’ve gathered. But I’m going to keep coming every Friday until you do, so you might as well try.” Stiles stood rapidly then and took quick, ungainly steps towards the door. “See you Monday!” Derek managed to get his hand up in a befuddled wave in time for Stiles to turn around and see it. What just happened?

Regardless of the confusion that Stiles had lit within him, Derek felt more at ease in discussion the next Monday. He managed to answer questions without stumbling and losing his train of thought and even made a little eye contact, admittedly mostly with Stiles, but it was an improvement. Maybe this office hour plan Stiles had could help him. Not that he really expected him to keep coming. Not even someone as seemingly persistent as Stiles would continue to brave the early Friday mornings just to listen to him talk about research.

Yet there he was knocking at his open door Friday morning and boy, did he look good. A deep red v-neck contrasted his porcelain skin and a gray cardigan hugged his surprisingly broad shoulders distractingly. Skinny chinos highlighted long, slim legs and thick glasses sat atop his upturned nose, framing his sleepy eyes.

Realizing he had maybe been staring, he told Stiles to come in. He practically fell into the chair across from Derek and his stomach growled loudly as he situated himself. Derek chuckled quietly and his stomach squirmed at the blush that crept up Stiles's neck and cheeks. His pale skin showed his emotions so clearly and yet Derek still felt like he had no idea what was going on in his head. He wanted to change that.

"Skip breakfast?" He asked as he rifled through his drawer of snacks and handed a Nutrigrain bar to Stiles when he nodded. “Here. You can’t take in my mind blowing research on an empty stomach." His heart stopped when he realized he had accidentally used the words he had been replaying in his mind for days since Stiles had said them last week.

But Stiles just smiled softly, and Derek suddenly hoped he remembered those were his words. Accepting the bar, he said, "Thanks. It's about all I can do getting here on time with my clothes on. Breakfast is definitely not an option."

And now he was picturing Stiles naked and he was back to square one with losing his train of thought. Eventually he came out with, "Yet you're still here." Could he stop sounding unhappy about that already?

"Yep! I want you to tell me about the gait patterns of wolves."

Derek actually started panicking a little the second Stiles said it. Of course that was why he was here. That’s what he’d told Derek last week. But Derek had been so focused on wondering if Stiles would actually keep his promise that he hadn’t actually figured out what he was going to tell him. Typical.

As a result, Derek did his best to pull what he could remember out of his head and spoke slowly to try and keep his segmented narrative understandable. His research was still in its fledgling stages so he only really had the beginnings of a method and some preliminary trial runs to share, but Stiles seemed fascinated and it spurred him on to try and really make it sound as interesting as he thought it was. When he was done, Stiles asked the one thing he always dreaded.

"So why do you study wolves anyway?" Ice flooded his veins in a familiar reaction Derek had hoped he’d learned to quell a little with time. The crushing sadness he suddenly felt must have shown on his face because Stiles suddenly looked repentant. "You don't have to tell me. It's fine.”

Derek shot him a small, grateful smile. He maybe didn’t quite understand Stiles, but Stiles definitely seemed to understand him, and Derek was hugely grateful to him for it.  "Y-yeah. Another time maybe."

“Okay, well I’ll see you next week then.” Stiles stood slowly, and if Derek didn’t know better he would think he was hesitant to leave.

When he walked into class on Monday, Derek found it in himself to smile at Stiles, choosing to ignore how that might look to the other students. If he had gauged them correctly, the only one who was likely to notice and think anything of it was Lydia, and something told him she wasn’t about to make a fuss. He’d expected Stiles to just smile back or say ‘hi,’ but instead he blushed. Furiously. It spread from his cheeks to his ears and then down his neck and Derek wished desperately Stiles wasn’t his student because he wanted to take off his multiple layers of shirts and see how far down it went.

Derek watched as Lydia raised a knowing eyebrow at Stiles while Scott asked if he choking and he silently praised himself for managing to read his students properly for once.

Friday morning came and Derek woke earlier than usual to make a trip down to the pastry shop. It wasn’t against the rules to buy his students food after all. He made his way out of the shop when suddenly crippling doubt overtook him. Was he overstepping? Would Stiles think this was weird? Was it too obvious? He dumped the food in the nearest garbage and headed back toward his car before hesitating again, realizing he was being ridiculous, and marching right back into the shop to wait in line and make the same order again.

The whole dumb process meant he was late, though, and he got a text from an unknown number at 7:05 asking if office hours had been cancelled. He imagined Stiles waiting outside his office with a cutely bereft look on his face at the thought of Derek not having office hours, and it made him feel oddly light. He texted back that he would be there soon and pressed send, only to realize a second later that he’d addressed the text to Stiles and he couldn’t actually be positive it was Stiles and what if it wasn’t and whoever it was thought he had something weird going on with Stiles and he practically ran to his office only to breath a sigh of relief to see that it was in fact Stiles smiling at him from down the hall. This kid had seriously gotten under his skin.

Stiles blushed and looked up at him with the most awestruck expression when he saw the bag Derek held out to him. “Y-you brought me breakfast?” The warmth in his whiskey-eyes made the embarrassing second trip into the donut shop worth it, and Derek felt a surprising rush of confidence fill him.

He raised an eyebrow in mock judgement and chided Stiles teasingly. “I brought you donuts. Don’t get the two confused.”

Stiles’s mouth fell open at that like he couldn’t believe Derek had made even half a joke before quickly snapping it shut and wagging an eyebrow at him. “Don’t worry. I had an apple, so that makes two-thirds of a balanced breakfast.” And then he winked. Winked! Derek swallowed thickly before managing to get his limbs moving him towards the locked door.

Stiles sat quietly for a few minutes, if happily munching at his donuts counted as quiet. Derek didn’t miss him pushing the jelly donut aside and made a reach to grab it before deciding to pull his hand away. Maybe Stiles was saving it for last. Stiles didn’t miss the motion though, and pushed the donut towards him with an amused smile. Derek didn’t indulge in sweets often, but jelly donuts were his favorite and he bit in with gusto, not even stopping to clean the jelly off his chin until he had downed the whole thing.

Once Stiles had finally finished Derek pushed on. “So what do you have for me today?”

Today, Stiles wanted to hear about the attack styles of wolves for his criminal anthropology class. Wolves don’t attack humans often, but Derek eagerly dove into the subject, happy to talk about something non-research related. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been monologuing at Stiles when a knock came at the door and he tore his eyes from Stiles to see the last person he ever hoped to encounter again.

“Professor Argent.” He said through a locked jaw. “Why are you here?”

The smile Kate gave him chilled him to the core and he felt his heart pounding painfully in against his ribs, straining with adrenaline.

“Aw, Derek, how many times do I have to remind you I’m still just Kate?” The huskiness of her voice sent bitter chills through his spine and he met her smile with a cold glare. “Anyway. The history department is holding a Halloween party next week and we haven’t seen each other in some time, so I figured I’d see if you were interested in joining.”

A shout of laughter escaped his chest before he could suppress it. “You can’t be serious? Why would I go to anything with you after what you did?”

She shot another smile at him, too reminiscent of those she used to send his way when he would walk into class. “Just figured I’d see what options were open.” Then she turned to Stiles and Derek shuddered as he watched Kate rake her gaze over his figure. “Have fun with your office hours.” She was practically purring at him, and goosebumps erupted over Derek’s body as he thought about the implications Kate was making about his relationship with Stiles. It wasn’t like that. He wasn’t like that.

As she walked away, Derek stared out after her, feeling frozen and numb. Was he leading Stiles on? Was their relationship actually veering dangerously towards inappropriate?

“Uh, unless you wanted to talk about anything else, I’m gonna go.” Stiles’s voice was quiet, but it pierced Derek’s thoughts like a knife, and he turned to watch his student stand stiffly as he grabbed his bag, his motions slow as though asking Derek’s permission to stay.

“Yeah.” Was all he said. He couldn’t let Stiles continue this.

Shutting out Stiles proved to be the most difficult thing he had done in a long time. Harder even than leading discussion. Derek refused to let his gaze fall on him, even when he tried answering a question, not willing to risk seeing the hurt and confusion that was probably there. Though he wasn’t entirely sure what had been going on between them, three early office hours in a row had been enough to prove that he was important to Stiles for whatever reason, and pulling away was going to hurt him.

As he tried to fall asleep that Thursday night he tossed and turned in bed for an hour, fighting over whether or not Stiles would show up the next morning. Eventually he decided he couldn’t risk it and sent Stiles a text.

Derek: I’m not having office hours tomorrow.

It was short and blunt, just like the dull knife he was stabbing Stiles with.

He drove himself home to Beacon Hills that Saturday to help Laura with the haunted house and be as far away from Kate and Stiles as possible. The town kids managed to keep him distracted most of the day and then Laura kept him occupied with scary movies in the evening. He hadn’t told her what had happened, but Laura had always had a good read on his mood and she obviously knew he needed a distraction.

Their second movie was coming to its climax when his phone vibrated against the coffee table loudly and he startled. He had a few friends but they rarely texted when they knew he was at the preserve so it had to be Stiles. Against his better judgement, Derek opened the text with vaguely trembling fingers.

Stiles: Did I do something wrong, Derek?

He groaned and let his head back to thump against the couch.

“Trouble with your little crush, Der?” Laura’s words were chiding, but her tone was gentle.

“I’m choosing to ignore it until it goes away.”

“He doesn’t sound like the kind to let you get away with that. You made him sound pretty persistent.” Laura knew too much.

“We’ll see.” Was all he could say to that. He didn’t respond to Stiles.

Stiles was absent from Monday’s discussion and Derek couldn’t tell if that was better because he didn’t have to try and avoid him, or worse because it meant he had probably ruined his chances of ever fixing the situation.

Derek didn’t tell Stiles not to come to office hours that week. He figured it wasn’t necessary. Apparently he was wrong because his door burst open at precisely 7 AM that Friday and Stiles marched in, practically steaming. His honey-colored eyes were stormy with anger, sadness, and confusion.

“What is your problem?” Stiles yelled before seeming to realize the door was open and shutting it. “I didn’t do anything to you and then you just ignore me! Like I get we weren’t really friends, but we had a good something going. You have no right to ice me out like this.” Derek had known he was going to inevitably hurt Stiles, but he had no idea how much. The pain in Stiles’s voice was too much and he felt his face softening into worry at the harm he’d done.

“What?” Stiles asked, his voice suddenly softer.

Derek held his gaze down at his lap, remorse swirling in his gut. He didn’t want to say it, but he couldn’t keep it bottled up any longer if it was going to keep hurting Stiles. “We did have a good something going.”

“So what’s the problem?” Stiles voice was hoarse.

“It was starting to be too good of a thing.” He looked up helplessly, but Stiles looked so lost, like he knew what Derek was trying to say but wasn’t letting himself think it. Derek sighed heavily, knowing he finally needed to be upfront. “I like you Stiles, but I’m not going to go there.”

“I-I like you too though.” Derek’s breath caught at the words, but he grew nervous when Stiles’s eyes narrowed knowingly. “Is this about the rules?”

Derek released a huff of sarcastic laughter. Stiles would have figured that out about him.  “You could say that.” He squirmed under the unimpressed look Stiles laid on him.

“Don’t leave me hanging, Derek.” He sounded beyond fed-up, but Derek obviously couldn’t blame him.

Derek closed his eyes as he gathered himself in preparation. The only person he’d ever told the whole story to was Laura. “Last year, when I was a senior, Professor Argent was a last year grad student, and was assistant teaching a French lecture I was in. She came onto me one day in office hours but I turned her down and before I could complain to the department, which I wouldn’t have, she tried playing it off to them like I was bribing her for grades. There was no proof either way, but the department chose to believe her, and they told me they wouldn’t report me to the honor council if I withdrew from the class.”

Silence engulfed them upon the confession and Stiles was just staring at him. The eye contact was becoming overwhelming when Stiles finally decided to look away and speak. “That’s awful. I’m sorry.”

Derek smiled sourly at him. “I was trying to keep this all under control, but when she came by last week I just felt like I was already starting to break the rules. I didn’t want you to keep pushing, so I shut you out. I’m sorry.” He felt like an asshole when he saw the dramatic fall of Stiles’s face and he realized just how horrible he’d been.

“So you want me to stop coming to office hours.” Stiles said, his voice smaller than Derek had ever heard. His heart squeezed painfully at the thought of Stiles not coming to office hours anymore. He couldn’t stand the thought of only seeing Stiles in class, of never hearing his pressing questions or seeing the curiosity and enthusiasm dancing in his eyes.

“No! I-I don’t think so.” He paused before continuing. “No I want you to keep coming.” He sighed when he saw the look of hope creeping into Stiles’s eyes that he desperately wanted to share. “This is going to suck.”

Stiles shot him a mischievous smile and Derek’s stomach folded into knots of anticipation. “Only for four more weeks until classes are over. TA’s don’t grade finals, so we’re going out as soon as you’ve graded my last phys assignment.” Stiles finished with a wink and heat flushed to the surface of Derek’s cheeks faster than he thought possible. “I’ll see you on Monday, Derek.”

See him Monday Derek did and Stiles made sure to make himself look utterly delectable that day and every other for the rest of the semester. It drove Derek mad that he couldn’t hold him and touch him, and especially after Friday office hours he had to give himself a hand to thoughts of Stiles in his nerdy glasses and clinging t-shirts. His fantasies usually centered around the dark blush that Derek noticed creep up his neck whenever he praised him, but Derek still could only rely on his imagination for how far down it went and the fantasies usually ended in frustration rather than release.

Deciding to tell Stiles what happened to his family felt like the normal progression of things after Stiles told him about his mom, Claudia, on the second to last week of office hours. It wasn’t something he often shared and the words seemed to cling in his throat, burning painfully. Stiles’s comforting smile acted almost as an analgesic though, easing the words out, and Derek was sure it had been the right choice to tell him.

Stiles asked a few questions, but didn’t prod too hard and when Derek finished he reached out and gently grasped his hand. Derek tensed momentarily within his grip, but he allowed himself to relax into the comforting gesture as the warmth of Stiles’s large hand seeped into his bones. They stayed that way for several moments before Stiles released his grip and started chatting casually about his finals and the progress he was making on his thesis. Just like Laura, he always seemed to know when Derek didn't want to dwell on something any longer.

He had been debating where to take Stiles on their first date basically since they'd made their feelings known after Halloween. Though he was fully aware that Stiles wouldn't care what they did, he wanted it to be particularly special given how long they had waited for it. Eventually he figured it out and made the appropriate arrangements before telling Stiles to make sure to keep the entire day after classes ended free.

Despite knowing that Stiles was as excited as he was, Derek was stricken with nerves when the last day of classes ended and he sent Stiles a text to settle his anxiety.

Derek: You kept tomorrow open right?

Stiles: Nope. I decided to get a jump start on my phys studying ;)

Derek snorted as he read it, indulging himself in picturing Stiles winking at him in real life.

Derek: Funny.

Derek: I’ll pick you up at 8 :)

If Derek had predicted figuring out how to dress would be so hard, he would have asked Laura to help him ahead of time. As it was, he changed two more times after deciding that he shouldn’t dress as he usually does to work, but that he also couldn’t dress more formally like he usually would for a first date because of what he’d planned for them to do. Eventually he decided to just spruce up his usual work attire with slightly slimmer fitting jeans and his leather jacket.

When Stiles stepped out his apartment and caught sight of him standing in front of his Camaro his mouth dropped open in what Derek would liken to shock and he couldn’t suppress the chuckle that escaped at Stiles’s expressiveness.

“What?” He asked innocently.

Stiles gesticulated wildly between him and the car and back again. “You-you drive a sports car. And you wear leather. Why have I never seen that jacket before? Why have you been hiding how cool you are?”

Derek pulled a face of mock disbelief. “You mean you didn’t think your stuttering TA who couldn’t make eye contact was cool?” He chuckled again when Stiles shook his head dumbly before pulling open the passenger door. “Get in. We’ve got a drive.”

At office hours Stiles was usually pushing him to talk, so Derek relished in finally letting Stiles do most of the talking during the ride. He was hardly surprised, though still vaguely overwhelmed, that Stiles managed to babble good-naturedly almost the entire way on various subjects with very little prompting on Derek’s part. By the time they arrived and he had put the car in park, Stiles had taught him more about the history of circumcision, the evolution of criminology, and Asian mythology than Derek ever thought he could learn in a two-hour span.

When he finally realized they’d arrived, Stiles stared at it a few moments, before it seemed to all click. “This is the preserve. This is your house.”

Derek nodded. “It’s technically on preserve property, so the government rebuilt it for us. My older sister Laura lives here, and she oversees the wolves now. She’s not home right now though.”

Stiles stared at him for a few moments, letting it all sink in before his face split into ecstasy and he threw the car door open.

“The wolves! Are we here to see the wolves?” While Stiles practically flew out of the car, Derek took his sweet time, relishing in watching the anticipation build in his face as he waited. He reached out to grab Stiles’s hand, almost awestruck by the sensation of threading their fingers together for the first time, before pulling Stiles toward his favorite trail. Derek appreciated that Stiles seemed to know to be quiet, and he soaked in the sounds of the preserve and the feeling of Stiles’s long, strong fingers in his as they walked. About a mile down, he stopped abruptly and pointed down a hill to their left. The wolves were where he had expected them to be on a day like this, and he watched Stiles’s face as he stared down at them in rapture. As his whiskey eyes lit up watching the wolves’ lazy movements, Derek suddenly felt compelled to hold him close, so he slipped his arm around Stiles’s slim waist. He shivered at the feeling of the compact muscles contracting underneath his palm as Stiles shifted closer into his grasp to loop his own long arm around him.

As they stood holding each other, Derek's heart eventually equilibrated to the rush of he and Stiles holding each other, finally breaking through the barriers that had forbidden it for what had seemed such a long time. They just watched for who knew how long, when Stiles finally broke the silence. “So you never told us on the first day of class. What’s your favorite part of the body?”

Derek's heart began thundering anew as he remembered all the desires he'd had since meeting Stiles, but he didn't think he had the confidence to share those thoughts just yet. “If you had asked me that then, I would have said the spine.”

Wearing a determined look, Stiles pressed for more. “And if I ask now?”

Of course he was nothing if not persistent and Derek blushed furiously as he realized he couldn't get out of this one. So smiling as softly as he could to hide his trepidation, he replied, “Any part of you.” Derek was awarded with a deep flush in response.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm deliberating writing a final mixed POV epilogue where Stiles meets Laura and Cora, but I have to give my WIP fic a little attention so that might be a while coming.
> 
> Comments always appreciated and come visit me on [tumblr](http://a-mountain-ash.tumblr.com/)!


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